Letters to the Editor, Jan. 7

San Francisco Chronicle

January 6, 2016

Regarding “Venerable S.F. art supplies store falls victim to city’s housing boom” (Jan. 6): With the closing of Flax, another touchstone for local artists has slipped away. As the gentrification of San Francisco proceeds from block to block and neighborhood to neighborhood, the exodus of its creative community also continues.

Some may hail Flax’s replacement, a pricey condominium complex, as vital to the city’s housing shortage. But others will view this change as further evidence that San Francisco is becoming more unaffordable and losing its creative soul.

Julian Grant, Pacifica

Gun circulation

Regarding “Backers of gun control hopeful” (Dec. 6): What’s the deal “Prez?” After years of being subjected to offensive e-mail spams about male enhancement, Texas finally finds the answer and you want to interfere. For a fraction of the cost of a four-wheel drive truck or a sports car, Texans can open-carry and strap on their manhood. How about the same for the rest of the country?

Problem is, that when the image of even one slaughtered innocent crosses my mind, it becomes an issue of simple math. The more difficult it is to get a gun, the less guns there are in circulation. The less guns in circulation, the less chance that an innocent is shot.

In the face of this fact, it becomes not a matter of the “rules are off” but the “rules are on.” I strongly support our president’s brave effort to institute more effective gun controls. And yes, I am a gun owner.

Cory David, South San Francisco

‘Birther’ irony

It is fascinating to note the total silence blanketing Tea Party “birthers” to the known fact that presidential candidate and now Californian GOP front-runner Sen. Ted Cruz was not born in the U.S., which is a constitutional requirement for presidential candidates. Cruz was Canadian born of an American mother and Cuban father. When compared with the angst and outcry against President Obama’s birthplace legitimacy, one can only marvel at the hypocrisy, inconsistency and probably color-coded attitude of the Tea Party “birther” movement.

Deidre Silverman, San Rafael

York’s problem

After watching and listening to Jed York’s news conference, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry or vomit. He talks about Eddie DeBartolo Jr. being his go-to mentor in a positive way despite the fact that apparently all of Uncle Eddie’s advice stunk things up.

He further states that there is no way in which he would consider selling the franchise. So I guess we’re left with a future of obfuscation and denial by an ownership that must be spending considerable time on a different planet than Earth.

Joseph Friedman, Oakland

Not a betrayal

Regarding “New visa waiver law infringes on rights, betrays our values” (Open Forum, Jan. 5) I believe that Kourosh Kolahi’s opinion piece is based upon a fundamental misunderstanding concerning the recent changes made by Congress to the Visa Waiver Program that, notably, allows citizens from 38 designated countries to visit the U.S. without a visa for up to 90 days. While these changes do impose new restrictions upon individuals who are dual citizens of one of these 38 countries and Iraq, Iran, Syria or Sudan, the Visa Waiver Program, even with these particular changes, does not apply to returning U.S. citizens from abroad, even those of dual citizenship such as Kolahi.

Accordingly, while Kolahi’s dual citizenship may unfortunately limit his ability to travel without a visa to any of the 37 countries considering similar visa waiver restrictions, he is mistaken that the “new visa waiver program” infringes upon his rights by creating a second tier of American citizenship. If it did have this impact, I would entirely agree with him that it should be repealed, but I do not agree that subjecting certain foreign nationals to security and background checks prior to their admission into this country is a “betrayal of our values.”

Amos Lawrence, San Francisco

Address the issues

Donald Trump’s value is speaking to the real issues of the day without pandering to political correctness. He may not have the solutions; however, he has changed the political dialogue of all of the candidates. Now all the candidates, Republicans and Democrats, are directly addressing the issues. Trump’s being in the daily news with a focus on issues is sobering.

Wally Levin, San Mateo

Focus on criminals

President Obama’s extraordinary performance with respect to his executive action regarding the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution was pathetic. His crocodile tears were as genuine as his administration’s explanation of the Benghazi “anti-Islamic” film being the cause of the death of he U.S. ambassador and three other men. The cause of violence is not the guns, but the criminals. Obama, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and, for that matter, California Gov. Brown and State Attorney General Kamala Harris, should emphasize “Crime Control,” such as extradition of illegal alien felons, who constitute almost 20 percent of the prison population of California. If one wishes to view genuine sorrow, one only has to look at the Steinle family, who, due to the pondering of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the San Francisco district attorney and their outdated sanctuary city dogmas, are shedding genuine tears of grief and sorrow at the loss of their most precious possession, their child.